RE: [Freetype] FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING and "ft_render_mode_normal"

[Giuliano Pochini]

> I was just wondering what effects the FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING flag has on glyphs
> that are rasterized using the ft_render_mode_normal flag as opposed to the
> ft_render_mode_mono flag:
>
> a) When rasterizing small (pixelsize = 10) non-antialiased glyphs,
> specifying FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING seems to make the glyph look like crap[...]

Hinting must be enabled to get a decent monochrome rendering, unless
pixelsize is quite big, e.g. when you print on paper at 300dpi or higher.

> b) When raserizing larger (pixelsize = 20) antialiased glyphs, specifying
> FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING makes the glyph look fine, but if I omit this flag,
> certain vertical strokes will look wider (ie in the case of the lowercase
> 'n', the left downstroke will look wider than the right downstroke).

If it's a TT font anf FT2 has the bytecode interpreter compiled in,
it's the fonf to blame. If TF2 is using the autohinter, it may be
on of the rare cases when it doesn't do a good job. You forgot to
write Freetype version, bytecode interpreter and the font name (and
url and small screenshot and other things?).

> Is there a rule of thumb for when to use FT_LOAD_NO_HINTING and when
> not to, besides having someone visually inspect the output?

No, it depends on what you want the librady do.


Bye.